Abs Aren’t Made in the Gym

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Over the last year or so I’ve been approached by a number of people asking about my abs routine. The questions regarding training come in various forms:

Regie Simmons at the Masters Nationals 2013

How many crunches do you perform per day?

How often do you work abs?

Do you combine cable crunches with leg raises?

Sometimes the questions come with a little flare. For example, “do you eat…real food?” or “so, how big is your waist?” Theatrics aside and regardless of form, people are essentially asking the same question—how can I get stage or beach worthy abs?

In the vast majority of cases I think inquirers are looking for me to rattle off a list of exercises like an infomercial seen on late night TV. Perform 1000 cable crunches, 1000 scissor leg lifts, 9 minutes of front & side planks and finish up with an hour of shirt drenching HIIT cardio 3 times per week AND YOU TOO WILL HAVE ROCK HARD ABS.

I honestly think the aforementioned abs routine—as crazy as it sounds—would be easier to swallow than the cold reality that I hit people with. And, here’s the reality: great abs are made in the kitchen and NOT in the gym. Boom!

After I drop this bomb on people you can actually see the light dwindle from their eyes. Well, not really but you can clearly see the disappointment. Leading a healthy lifestyle is hard work. It takes dedication, consistency and a willingness to forego tasty treats and adult beverages. Sounds like fun, right?

The infomercials have done an amazing job of making people think that they can get rock hard abs in less than 6-minutes a day. The truth is that you can’t crunch your way to an amazing core. It’s impossible.

If you’re still reading this article don’t give up. I’m not all doom and gloom as the recipe for developing great abs is pretty straightforward. And, it all begins with diet. In fact, many individuals, including myself, believe that 80% of developing a great body is diet.

So here are the steps:

Step one: Determine the number of calories you need to “run” your body

Step two: Create a caloric deficit to burn body fat

Step three: Engage in exercises that develop your abs

Now, that we know the process, let’s review each step in detail.

Step one: Determining your caloric needs

Are you ready for more tough love? Hope so because it’s about to get rough.

Food is fuel. Period. Food is not a treat, nor is it comfort. You need to start thinking of food as basic building blocks comprised of fats, carbohydrates and proteins. And, each of these macronutrients is comprised of calories. Fats are 9 calories while carbs and protein are 4 calories each. Once the depersonalization of food is complete, you are prepared to arrange these blocks to construct your diet.

Cover model extraordinaire Greg Plitt has a great video online that explains how to determine your caloric needs. The video can be found at http://vimeo.com/17389252. In this video, Greg provides calculations to determine your Base Calories which is the sum of Static Calories plus Metabolic RateCalories. Before starting the video you might want to grab a pencil, paper and even a calculator if your math skills are rusty. And, if you’re anything like me you’ll need to stop and rewind the video a few times to get the calculations correct.

After performing the calculations contained in the video, I determined that I needed to bring in 3,140 calories per day. Here is an example, of how I spread those calories across 8 meals:

Meal eight: Depending the calories needed: protein shake, eggs or even a Tbs of almond butter

Water: 1-2 gallons per day

Depending on various factors (e.g., allergies, personal preferences, cooking skills, etc.) your diet might look drastically different than my own. There are, however, a few cornerstone principles to consider as you develop your own diet and they include the following:

Be sure to consume at least 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight

Stay away from processed foods

Drink at least one gallon of water per day

Eat every 2-3 hours

Step two: Creating a caloric deficit

Once you determine your Base Calories you can then subtract 500 calories to lose weight. For example, if my daily caloric goal was 3,140 my new target would be 2,640 calories. By creating a caloric deficit your weight and body fat will decrease over time.

When I am attempting to drop body fat I achieve my caloric deficit through a combination of reduced calories and increase cardio. For example, I will decrease my food intake by 250 calories while simultaneously performing cardio to reach an additional 250 calories of output.

Step three: Building your abs

There are a host of exercises that you can perform to build your abs and strengthen your core. The core is “complex” and should be trained indirectly and directly. Indirect exercises would be compound movements like squats and deadlifts where your core is actually engaged to stabilize and protect your spine.

When performing direct exercise they should target the three parts of your abs: top, bottom and sides. Some of my favorite exercises to work the abs are:

Regie is a writer and working professional in the pharmaceutical / biotechnology industry in Fort Lauderdale, FL. As a life-long athlete he currently competes in the Men’s Physique division of the NPC. Regie holds an undergrad degree in Journalism and an MBA in pharmaceutical marketing.